Chancellor announces minimum wage review

Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced plans to review the minimum wage, before new targets are unveiled for the years beyond 2020.

In his Spring Statement speech on 13 March 2019, he said the Government had appointed Professor Arin Dube to undertake a review on international evidence of the effects of minimum wages.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, wrote in an article for The Times that such a review is needed before any further changes to minimum wage rates are decided.

Johnson said:

"We all want people to be paid as much as possible. There is clearly a role for a minimum wage.

"But there is also clearly a limit to that role and, frankly, we don't know at what point the benefits of higher pay begin to be outweighed by lower employment or higher prices or other disruptions to business."

The national living wage, which applies to most employees aged 25 and over throughout the UK, is set to rise from £7.83 to £8.21 from 1 April 2019.